Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Acknowledgement is made of the receipt of Preliminary Amendment filed 08 December 2009.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited on a Form PTO 1449 have been considered.
Specification
The specification has been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. However, the applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Otoguro et al. (US Pub. 2014/0267529).
Otoguro et al. disclose in Figures 1-8 an image forming apparatus comprising:
Regarding claim 1, a scanning optical system (40) configured to perform scanning with a laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk) and to guide the laser beam to the image carrier (P) (Figure 1 and 3A-3C, paragraph 0034);
a casing (70, 85) configured to house the scanning optical system (40), and including a holding portion (31) holding an optical element (62) configuring the scanning optical system (40) (Figures 1-2B and 3A-3B); and
a pressing holding member (95) configured to press and hold the optical element (62) to the holding portion (31), wherein the pressing holding member (95) includes a body portion (95h), and a pressing portion (95b) coupled to the body portion (95h) and pressing the optical element (62) held by the holding portion (31), against the holding portion (31), the casing (70, 85) includes a support portion (33) provided to face the holding portion (31) and supporting the body portion (95h) , the support portion (33) is disposed on a peripheral edge of a through hole (J) penetrating through the casing (70, 85), and includes a support protrusion (Ca) protruding from an outer surface to come into contact with a peripheral edge of the body portion (95h), and the through hole (J) is an emission port emitting the laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk) to outside of the casing (85) (Figures 3A-4A-4C and 6A-6B).
Regarding claim 2, wherein the optical element (62) is a reflection mirror reflecting the laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk), and the support protrusion (Ca) includes a front end positioned inside the through hole (J) in a cross-section orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the reflection mirror (62) (Figures 2A-2B and 4C).
Regarding claim 3, wherein the support protrusion (33) extends in a direction approaching the holding portion (31), and the support protrusion (Ca) includes a front end bent in a direction approaching the through hole (J) (Figure 2B).
Regarding claim 4, wherein the casing (85) further includes a clamping portion (96) provided to face the support portion (33), and the body portion (95h) is clamped between the support portion (33) and the clamping portion (96) (Figures 3B-4C).
Regarding claim 5, a scanning optical system (40) configured to perform scanning with a laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk) and to guide the laser beam to the image carrier (P) (Figure 1 and 3A-3C, paragraphs 0034);
a casing (70, 85) configured to house the scanning optical system (40), and including a holding portion (31) holding an optical element (62) configuring the scanning optical system (40) (Figures 1-2B and 3A-3B); and
a pressing holding member (95) configured to press and hold the optical element (62) to the holding portion (31), wherein the pressing holding member (95) includes a body portion (95h), and a pressing portion (95b) coupled to the body portion (95h) and pressing the optical element (62) held by the holding portion (31), against the holding portion (31), the casing (70, 85) includes a support portion (33) provided to face the holding portion (31) and supporting the body portion (95h) , the support portion (33) is disposed on a peripheral edge of a through hole (J) penetrating through the casing (70, 85), and includes a support protrusion (Ca) protruding from an outer surface to come into contact with a peripheral edge of the body portion (95h),
the casing (70, 85) includes a housing portion (85) including an opened upper surface and housing the scanning optical system (40), and a lid portion (70) covering the upper surface of the housing portion (85) , each of the housing portion (85) and the lid portion (70) includes a wall portion surrounding the scanning optical system (40) from sides, and the through hole (unmarked through hole that is close by a number 55) is provided on the wall portion of one of the housing portion (85) and the lid portion (70), and is closed by the wall portion of another of the housing portion (85) and the lid portion (70) (Figures 3A-4A-4C and 6A-6B).
Regarding claim 6, wherein the optical element (62) is a reflection mirror reflecting the laser beam (LY, LM, LC, LBk), and the support protrusion (Ca) includes a front end positioned inside the through hole (J) in a cross-section orthogonal to an axis direction of a rotation axis of a polygon mirror (42) and a longitudinal direction of the reflection mirror (60) included in the scanning optical system (40) (Figures 2A-2B and 3A-3C, paragraph 0034).
Regarding claim 7, wherein the support protrusion (33) extends in a direction approaching the holding portion (31), and the support protrusion (Ca) includes a front end bent in a direction approaching the through hole (J) (Figure 2B).
Regarding claim 8, an image forming apparatus (10) comprising: one or more image carriers (50Y, 50M, 50C, 50Bk) each including a photosensitive layer on a surface (Figure 1, paragraph 0035);
a charging device (12Y, 12M, 12C, 12Bk) configured to charge the image carriers (50Y, 50M, 50C, 50Bk) to a predetermined surface potential (Figure 1, paragraph 0035); and
the optical scanning device (40) configured to expose the surfaces of the image carriers (50Y, 50M, 50C, 50Bk) charged by the charging device (12Y, 12M, 12C, 12Bk) to form electrostatic latent images having attenuated charges (Figure 1, paragraphs 0035 and 0038).
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. These prior art references (US Pub. 2005/0062836; US Pub. 2006/0132880; US Pub. 2015/0202886) cited in the PTO 892 form show an ink forming apparatus which is deemed to be relevant to the present invention. These references should be reviewed.
CONCLUSION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner Anh Vo whose telephone number is (571) 272-2262. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:30 A.M.to 6:00 P.M..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner'ssupervisor, Douglas Rodriguez can be reached on (571) 431-0716. The fax phonenumber for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH T VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853